1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a monitoring system and method for monitoring and processing data transmitted between a host and a managing system, more particularly to a monitoring system and method for monitoring and processing screen data transmitted between a host and a managing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, when a computer crashes, the operating system will show an error status on a computer screen. The information shown generally includes contents of CPU registers, hardware error messages, etc. Thus, maintenance personnel or system administrators can analyze the error status to locate the source of the system crash.
As the whole computer system stops after the operating system shows the error status, it is not possible to record the error status by merely using software applications. Moreover, since servers and computer systems are currently provided with a function of automatic restarting after a system crash, the error status is undesirably lost when the system is restarted, thereby preventing the maintenance personnel or system administrators from locating the source of the system crash.
To solve the aforesaid problem, a remote diagnosis card has been proposed heretofore for plugging into a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface so as to record contents of CPU registers and hardware error messages when a server or computer system encounters a fatal error or crash. In use, the remote diagnosis card monitors signals present in the PCI bus, and records image signals present in the PCI bus. As such, when a server or computer system crashes, the last screen data can be stored or sent to a remote server or computer system for further analysis. However, the aforesaid remote diagnosis card suffers from the following drawbacks:
First, the remote diagnosis card must occupy a PCI slot in the computer system. Because servers and computer systems require connection with different peripheral devices, and because the allotted number of PCI slots is generally limited to a maximum of two, the presence of the remote diagnosis card will have an adverse effect on expansion of the functionality of the server or computer system. Furthermore, the remote diagnosis card must be located on the same PCI bus as the VGA integrated circuit chip used for image processing in the server or computer system. If the VGA integrated circuit chip is located on another PCI bus or on an accelerated graphic port (AGP) bus, the remote diagnosis card will not be able to work. Moreover, the cost of the remote diagnosis card is rather high. The remote diagnosis card is hence not suitable and may be unaffordable to many ordinary computer users.
Aside from installing a remote diagnosis card in a server or computer system, there is another known solution to the aforesaid problem. FIG. 1 illustrates the specification of an Emergency Management Service (EMS) 10 proposed by Microsoft. The specification requires the operating system 11 of a computer system to send out messages in case of an emergency so that information relevant to a system crash can be recorded. Under this framework, a service processor 12 is connected to a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) interface 13 so that the operating system 11 can transmit error messages generated during system crash to the service processor 12 through the UART interface 13. Thereafter, the error message is further transmitted to a remote managing system 15 for analysis and processing through an external serial port 14 and a virtual modem 16 interconnecting the service processor 12 and the remote managing system 15.
Although the foregoing framework provides a way to store system crash screen data, there are still some drawbacks. First, to support the framework in accordance with the aforesaid EMS specification, an extra UART interface must be provided on the main board of a server or computer system. However, the UART interface is not a popular design in computer components. For example, widely used integrated service processors, such as Philip 87C652, Winbond 83910F, etc., are provided with serial ports, but not with UART interfaces. Therefore, if the aforesaid EMS specification is to be implemented on a server or computer system that does not incorporate a UART interface, the entire logic circuit must be redesigned, which is not only time-consuming, but is also costly. Moreover, the framework requires a virtual modem connected to a dedicated managing system, which incurs higher operating expenses.
There is thus a need to provide a monitoring system and method for effectively recording error messages generated during system crash without altering the design of existing servers or computer systems and without requiring the use of dedicated managing systems that would undesirably increase the operating costs.